Great Depression government assistance shifted from food and rent money to jobs on July 31, 1935, when the federal government approved the area's first Works Progress Administration projects, creating 8,200 jobs in Franklin County, most of them in Columbus.

Great Depression government assistance shifted from food and rent money to jobs on July 31, 1935, when the federal government approved the area’s first Works Progress Administration projects, creating 8,200 jobs in Franklin County, most of them in Columbus.

Across Ohio, The Dispatch reported, nearly 250,000 people were receiving relief payments when the WPA started hiring. The program was created with the intention of providing work for all who were able. The new order, The Columbus Citizen reported, was “Work or go hungry.”

Nearly 100 projects were approved in Franklin County in the initial round of funding; more than half were in Columbus. The Columbus projects, many of which are still standing or in use more than 75 years later, were funded with a combination of $270,695 in federal money and $170,615 in local money.

They included limestone-stepped retention walls and boat landings at Clintonville’s Como Park, a caretaker’s residence at Schiller Park and a water main in Berwick.

Workers were paid by skill level, with common laborers making $55 a month and technical and professional workers getting $94. Employment was limited to people older than 16 and to one job per family. The jobs, all temporary, were expected to last four months and three weeks.

On that day in July 1935, Chester C. Darby, WPA divisional director, said that work on some projects would begin within 24 hours.

The Dispatch noted: “Paint dealers and manufacturers should rejoice, since scores of projects call for the interior and exterior painting of public buildings.”

As the economy improved, Congress started winding down the program — eventually renamed the Work Projects Administration — in 1939. It remained in operation until June 30, 1943.

The Ohio Historical Society’s Ohio History Center online encyclopedia says the WPA employed more than 173,000 Ohioans in its first six months.

Suggestions for Mileposts that will run this bicentennial year can be sent to Gerald Tebben, Box 82125, Columbus, OH 43202, or email gtebben@columbus.rr.com.